(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an air supply tube, an air supply device, and an image forming apparatus.
(ii) Related Art
An image forming apparatus which forms an image made of a developer on a recording sheet uses, for example, a corona discharger which performs corona discharge during a process in which a latent image holding member, such as a photoreceptor, is electrically charged or erased, a process in which an unfixed image is transferred to a recording sheet, or the like.
In a corona discharger, an air supply device is also provided to supply air to constituent components, thereby preventing unwanted substances, such as paper dust or corona products, from becoming attached to constituent components, such as a discharge wire or a grid electrode. In this case, the air supply device generally has an air supply which supplies air and a duct (air supply tube) which guides and sends air sent from the air supply to a target structure, such as a corona discharger.
In the related art, various improvements are made to an air supply device such that air is supplied uniformly relative to the longitudinal direction of constituent components, such as a discharge wire. In particular, an air supply device or the like uses the following configuration, not a configuration in which a channel space, through which air of a duct flows, has a special shape, a configuration in which a rectifier plate or the like is provided to regulate the direction in which air flows in the channel space of the duct, or the like.